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There has been lively discussion about whether or not witches and wizards in the world of Harry Potter wear trousers under their robes (for example, in this tweet). I have not yet seen a definitive answer to this question online, though I have seen theories thrown around based on certain passages or statements by Rowling (like this one).

Is there any evidence in HP canon that wizards did/did not wear trousers under their robes?

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    Related question on scifi: In the HP books, what do wizards wear under their robes?
    – amaranth
    Feb 14, 2017 at 1:04
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    Why is this getting downvoted? I think I know why, but I think that it would do us all good to get in the habit of explaining it.
    – Benjamin
    Feb 14, 2017 at 1:23
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    @Benjamin I have not voted either way (I don't think it is worth either), but this seems to me to be a joke question (or at least comically phrased) and some people might have issues with that on a literature site. Feb 14, 2017 at 1:30
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    @Shokhet I am not sure exactly how... it is inherently a silly question. I would definitely edit the #Robegate out of the title. (I am not going to do that for you, that is not what the peer edits are for, as it is a style choice in the end) Feb 14, 2017 at 1:38
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    @b_jonas Users of Literature SE aren't obligated to be members of SFF.SE, or even to know it exists.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Apr 30, 2017 at 11:45

1 Answer 1

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Since this is basically the same question as the one on Sci-Fi I will summarize the answer from @Valorum.

Basically, some wear underwear, some don't even go that far. Valorum gives more quotes (I encourage you to take a look at his answer), but I feel that these are the best examples.

From The Order of the Phoenix, here's an example with underwear:

Snape was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants.

From The Goblet of Fire, an example without underwear:

Harry, Ron and Hermione joined it, right behind a pair of men who were having a heated argument. One of them was a very old wizard who was wearing a long flowery nightgown. The other was clearly a Ministry wizard; he was holding out a pair of pinstriped trousers and almost crying with exasperation. ‘Just put them on, Archie, there’s a good chap, you can’t walk around like that, the Muggle on the gate’s already getting suspicious –’ ‘I bought this in a Muggle shop,’ said the old wizard stubbornly. ‘Muggles wear them.’ ‘Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these,’ said the Ministry wizard, and he brandished the pinstriped trousers. ‘I’m not putting them on,’ said old Archie in indignation. ‘I like a healthy breeze round my privates, thanks.’

All credit to Valorum for this, he did the work.

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    If people have a problem with me summarizing a different site's answer, let me know and I will delete it. Feb 14, 2017 at 1:50
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    @MatrimCauthon if people have a problem, make it a community wiki.
    – muru
    Feb 14, 2017 at 2:16
  • @muru I agree, make it a community wiki. As "credit" measured on this site is rep, and if an answers is copied, the poster is gaining rep on some else's work.
    – Skooba
    Feb 14, 2017 at 21:20
  • @Skooba I am going to keep it an answer, based on this Meta post Feb 14, 2017 at 21:25
  • Do not copy the complete text of external sources; instead, use their words and ideas to support your own.... Granted you could have looked the quote for yourself and acheived the same result and not had to source the other answer to begin with.
    – Skooba
    Feb 14, 2017 at 21:30

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